LIPA Hearings on Shared Community Solar

Posted by Beth Fiteni11sc on

LIPA has proposed to implement -- through a tariff change -- a shared renewable energy program (“Community Distributed Generation Net Meter Program”) that will significantly expand renewable energy opportunities on Long Island and conforms with NYS Public Service Commission direction to investor-owned utilities in the rest of the state.

The shared renewable energy program eliminates the requirement that customers’ renewable energy systems must be installed on customers’ individual properties. Instead, a larger renewable energy system, such as a solar array can now be installed anywhere in the LIPA service territory and a number of customers receive their share of energy as a credit on their electric bills. This will enable many Long Islanders to choose solar for the first time helping them to save money and unleash significant private investment into Long Island’s growing clean energy economy.

The program is expected to enlarge the market for customer based solar arrays significantly because the traditional model of individual rooftop solar panels does not work for many of consumers. For instance, renters and home or business owners with shading on their roofs are unable to go solar under the current models available to them.